Blameless and Holy

Meditation

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

(Philippians 1:9-10)

Love, at least brotherly love, is not overly abundant in today’s society. The world is filled with opposite ends of racial, socio-economic and political spectrums. Animosity for anyone outside your little group is at an all time high. The people of this world are finding it easy to hate those different from them instead of ways to love one another. That kind of prejudice is usually caused by ignorance of those on the other side of the divide. There are more ways to learn about each other on the internet that have never been available before. After all, this is the information age. However, those tools to find out the two sides are more alike than different, are mostly unused or disbelieved.

God is no respecter of individuals. He doesn’t think more highly of me than he does for someone who thinks about things differently than I do. To him, I am no more, no less important than anyone else. As a believer in Jesus, I am instructed by scripture to have so much love for everyone in the body of Christ that it spills over to the unbelievers around me. I’m not living in the will of God if I’m not loving my neighbor. My ignorance of how the other person thinks or lives is no excuse for hatred. When I find myself with ill feelings toward anyone, it’s my responsibility to fix what’s wrong with my heart, not to change their hearts. It’s also not their obligation to change and come around to my way of thinking.

Christ will return one day very soon, but until then there is much work to be done to share his good news with the lost. I cannot share the good news if I’m so busy arguing with other people that I don’t even know what the good news is. Along with the internet, which has both good and bad sources of information, I have an instruction manual in the Bible. I become closer to the Lord when I study the scriptures and put them into action in my life. When I know what the Bible says about the way I’m supposed to live, I will know, without any doubt, what God wants me to do or how to think. I confess, I’m not very good at getting along with those at the other end of the political spectrum from me. I am striving to get better and to be found righteous when Jesus returns for his bride.

Prayer Time

Dear Lord, you see everything, you know our hearts, you know our thoughts. You know our spiritual maturity, so place in our hearts the need to learn everything we need to know from your inspired Word. Help us to learn what your will is for our lives. Not just for the big things, like what we should do with our lives or where we should live, but in the smaller decisions as well. Especially what church we’re going to attend. Sometimes we think once we’ve figured out what your will is for the major decisions, we don’t have to worry about the minor ones. Help us to remember that a few trivial choices can add up to have a huge impact on our lives. Since you know the end from the beginning, you know what’s best for us, and that’s why we need to always come to you in prayer. You will help us to use the knowledge we have gained to discern how you want us to live. We thank you for directing our paths in the direction you want us to go. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen!